A former army officer who served as a United Nations peacekeeper in Bosnia was arrested under the Internal Security Act last Thursday and taken by the police to an undisclosed location, prompting fears for his well-being.

According to the Abolish ISA Movement (AIM), Abdul Manaf Kasmuri was arrested between 10pm and 11pm at his home in Shah Alam, Selangor.

He was immediately driven to his office in Gombak where a thorough search was conducted until 3am.

Abdul Manaf is a human resource manager of the Koperasi Belia Islam Malaysia Berhad (KBI), an Islamic financial institution which has close links with the influential Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim).

KBI executive secretary Baharuddin Idris confirmed that Abdul Manaf had not reported to work since last Friday.

However, the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman, when contacted by malaysiakini, refused to confirm Abdul Manaf's arrest. An official said details of any ISA arrests could not be divulged due to "security reasons", especially given that Kuala Lumpur is currently hosting the Non-Aligned Movement summit.

According to Badaruddin Ismail from human rights group Suaram, Abdul Manaf who served in the Malaysian contingent to the United Nations Peace Keeping Force to Bosnia was arrested over "alleged links to the Malaysian Mujahidin Group".

He urged the authorities to inform Abdul Manaf's family regarding his whereabouts. Malaysiakini's attempts to contact the detainee's family were unsuccessful.

Arrests show hypocrisy

Malaysian Mujahidin Group, also known as KMM, is allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network which was blamed for the Sept 11 attacks o­n the United States.

In the past two year, the government has detained more than 62 alleged members of KMM under the ISA o­n the grounds that they were part of a regional group, Jemaah Islamiah, that aimed to overthrow Southeast Asian governments through violence and convert their respective countries into Islamic states.

ISA allows for a two-year detention without trial following an initial period of interrogation for a maximum of 60 days. In the early days of arrest, suspects are not allowed to meet with family member or lawyers.

"The arrest of Abdul Manaf under the ISA exposes the two faces of the Malaysian government and the hypocrisy of its rhetoric of justice and peace so loudly spoken at the NAM summit and its big show o­n Sunday calling for peace," lamented AIM secretary Yap Swee Seng (photo) in a statement.

"There will be no peace and security in real sense for the Malaysian people as long as the ISA is at the disposal of the Malaysian government to detain anyone without trial," he added.

AIM reiterated that an open and fair trial is a fundamental right of all human beings while detention under ISA constitutes a gross violation of human rights.

"AIM fears for the well-being of Abdul Manaf while being detained incommunicado and urges the police to immediately allow for family and lawyer access to Abdul Manaf."

More arrested

Suaram's Badaruddin claimed that in addition to Abdul Manaf, two others were also arrested under the ISA o­n the same day but he had yet to verify their identities.

He added that another six were arrested under the same controversial law in mid-December last year over their alleged involvement with KMM.

The six are Abdullah Mohd Noor, Zaini Zakaria, Zainon Rashid, Mohidin Shaari, Jamil Sudin and Askuri Selamat.

According to Badaruddin, Askuri's whereabout is still unknown whereas the other five are being detained at the Kamunting Detention Centre in Taiping, Perak since Feb 10.

"The arrest of these six were not announced by the police, but Suaram was informed of this by their family members," the human rights activist said.

Badaruddin, who is also a ex-ISA detainee, stressed that those arrested should either be charged in an open court or released immediately.